Stuck in an Elevator
by Fenton Hardy Fan
Summary: Sine Trig is heading home with her son when she is trapped in a lift with a Sith Lord, a Jedi Knight, two pilots, two clone troopers who aren't actually clones, a Jedi Padawan, and two guys she doesn't know how to classify. - A story likely to be interesting to those who often comment on starwars. com and features people from The Nexus Route site.
1. Chapter 1

Sine glanced at her watch, "The lift is taking forever," she muttered under her breath. Her five year old son, Tangent, occupied himself by repeatedly pressing the elevator call button. Finally, she heard a soft two-tone chiming and saw the doors part. Quickly, without glancing inside, Sine grabbed Tangent and entered the elevator.

It was a large elevator designed to carry twenty people, and the far wall was transparent, giving a view of nighttime Coruscant. Pushing the button for their floor, Sine turned away from the many people in the lift without a second glance. Distractedly, she stared at the door while thinking about what needed to be done before the Mathinian ambassador visited for lunch tomorrow.

The lift jolted. Then it stopped. Everyone was carried into the air by their upward momentum, only to fall to the floor. A red light flashed on the control panel, but it seemed the only thing with any electricity.

Instinctively, Sine reached for her child as she lay on the elevator floor. Failing to see him, she scrambled up.

"Ma'am?" came a voice from behind her. Turning, she saw a young man dressed in the armor of a clone trooper, though Sine could tell from his face that he was no clone. Beside him stood another dressed the same way. All those details slipped away when she realized he was holding Tangent. Relief flooded over her.

"Oh, Tangent!" she cried as the trooper set him down. Holding her child close, she spoke to the one who had caught him, "Thank you."

"You're most welcome ma'am," he nodded.

Squinting in the dim elevator, Sine found and pushed the "Open Doors" button. When nothing happened, she pushed the red "Help" button. Finally, she pressed the yellow "Call" button, but no one answered.

"Hang on," said a female voice.

Sine turned, and watched as a figure knelt down. Suddenly, a blinding green glow appeared in the kneeling girl's hands. After her eyes adjusted, Sine saw that the glowrod had been kept in a pocket on the outside of the girl's right boot.

"May I?" the girl asked as she gently pushed Sine aside and studied the control panel.

Examining the figure further, Sine noted the girl's flight suit and cargo vest. Looking past clothing, she observed a young face wearing an investigative expression, and long dark hair held away from it with an ornate silver clip. Overall, the impression Sine received was of a girl perhaps fifteen years old.

When the girl pulled some sort of tool out of a vest pocket and began to fiddle about with the lift controls, Sine instinctively grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing? Were you ever taught not to play with elevators?" Sine demanded as an unbidden image of the lift plummeting toward the city's underlevels sprang into her mind.

Shooting a potent glare towards Sine and forcefully removing her hand, the girl turned back to her task.

"Sister knows what she's doing," spoke up a tall, thin, young man who wore a flight suit that matched the girl's.

"Are you her older brother?" asked Sine, noting the matching clothing, hair color, and slim build, as well as the use of the word 'sister.'

Grinning, he replied, "She's my older sister actually, just turned twenty. I'm seventeen years old." He held out his hand.

Sine shook it, figuring that if she were stuck with these people, she may as well get to know them. "I'm Sine Trig, and this is my son, Tangent."

"I'm Brother," he replied, mystifying her. Seeming to understand her confusion, he continued, "It's not my name, or some sort of societal title, but it's what everyone calls me, and it's _sort_ of my name." He made an expression she couldn't decipher, "So please, call me Brother."

Sine felt highly unenlightened by his quick explanation, "You can call me Sine," she declared. " Wait, so is she, um…" Sine tilted her head towards the girl at the control panel, who was running diagnostics.

Brother smiled. "Sine, this is Sister."

"Hi," the girl turned away from her instrument's screen and waved, "It's a pleasure to meet you," Sister turned back.

Deciding to drop the conversation about their names, Sine changed the subject, "Are all of you together?"

Another young man stepped forward. Crossed leather straps ran across his chest and attached to his belt. From his longish dark hair to his black boots, he wore only one color. Although it gave him a formidable look, Sine could not find it in herself to fear him. "Yes indeed. I'm Namialus," the dark figure introduced himself, "and this is Natalie Cresent," he gestured to a girl dressed as a jedi padawan.

Sister interrupted quietly, "If someone could open the ceiling access hatch for me?"

"Sure," replied Natalie, raising a hand and using the Force to slide open the panel.

One of the troopers gave Sister a boost through the hatch.

"Thanks Wolffe," she called down before stepping out of sight.

Meanwhile, Namialus continued to introduce the other elevator occupants, "This is Gamma," he pointed to the trooper who had caught Tangent, "and this is Wolffe," he gestured toward the trooper assisting Sister. Stepping in the direction of a young woman in green robes, Namialus continued, "This is Kim."

"Hello, Sine, it's nice to meet you," spoke up Kim.

The lift was once again dim now that Sister had left with the glowrod, so Sine could only see the outline of a lightsaber attached to Kim's belt. _"Surely she's too young to be a_ _jedi"_ thought Sine to herself. In fact, the whole group seemed rather strange.

"Hi!" Tangent's voice broke into his mother's thoughts, "Are you a jedi?" he asked in an excited voice.

Before Kim could reply, Sister called down from her position atop the lift, "The mechanism seems fine, but for some reason it's not getting any power."

"Leave it to me!" yelled up one of the two remaining teenagers Sine had not been introduced to. He then stretched out his arms and sent bolts of electricity into the control panel. The elevator shot down. Sine felt her organs protest at the swift drop.

"Sister's still in the shaft!" shouted Brother as Sine tumbled into the jedi Kim.

While Namialus yelled, "Banshee!" and shoved the power source aside, slowing the lift, a third armor clad figure stepped forward. He wore some sort of colored metal armor vastly different from a clone soldier's gear. Firing mini rocket propulsion systems in his boots and gloves, he shot up through the still open hatchway. When the elevator finally stopped, the one called Banshee stood looking sheepish while Namialus glared at him. Moments later, the only remaining nameless person landed on the roof with a solid thud and lowered Sister down to stand beside Gamma.

"Are you alright?" asked her brother and Kim simultaneously.

"Yeah," she answered, leaning against the wall. "Thanks Chex," she told the one who had caught her.

"No problem," he casually spoke as he jumped down into the elevator.

"I want out now." Sine struggled to remain calm.

"It's alright, ma'am," comforted Gamma, "I wouldn't venture out into the lower levels of Coruscant merely because I felt rattled by the lift."

"Lower levels?" Sine held tightly to Tangent, who was shaking, and looked out the window, which showed buildings towering far above them. "It can't be," her head was spinning, "It's not possible to go down so quickly."

Brother spoke up, "You don't know Banshee. His Force Lighting can pack quite a punch."

"How can you all be so calm?"

"Things like this seem to happen to us a lot," observed Chex.

"You should have been there for our ride on the local public transport earlier today," added Banshee, grinning, "I electrocuted two hijackers at the same time. And Nat used the Force to smash a crate of Jell-O cubes onto the leader while Gamma did this cool move where he—"

The lift lurched.

"What was that?" asked Namialus, looking at Sister.

"How should I know!" she called back as the elevator abruptly shot down a meter and once again stopped.

"Take an educated guess!"

"Fine," she thought a moment, "I would propose that Banshee's power surge bypassed the programmed safety protocols and overstressed the lift mechanism, which is now breaking under our weight. Therefore I recommend we exit as quickly as we can without adding any unnecessary strain to—"

Again they shot down. This time, when the motion ceased, an alarming tilt replaced it.

Without waiting for instructions, Natalie drew her lightsabers and cut a large, perfectly shaped rectangle into the elevator doors. Kim thrust out her right hand and Force Pushed the section out to land with a thud in the hallway beyond.

Sine wanted desperately to get out of the little, square, elevator room, but she was also afraid of lower Coruscant, and the still red-hot opening, and even the strangers with her. Seeing her hesitation, Gamma lifted Tangent through the makeshift door. Her son stood quietly on the other side, a look of excitement caused by seeing a jedi padawan use her lightsabers on his face. Quickly Sine crossed through, nearly brushing the side with the back of the hand. To her surprise, almost no heat radiated from the metal.

As Sine tripped over a crack in the pavement, Brother steadied her. Glancing back, she was surprised to observe that the lift had not yet fallen. After a moment's reflection, Sine decided that it probably wouldn't fall now that their weight had been removed. Turning back to the grungy corridor, Sine Trig realized that her adventure was just beginning.

**Author's Note: ShogunNatarii is writing a fic about how these and other characters came to live under one roof, and it is called "****The Luminous Beings".**


	2. Outtakes for Chapter One

Sine turned and watched as a figure knelt down. With a flourish, Sister drew something from a pocket on the outside of her right boot.

"Please hold," she said as she shook the nonfunctioning glowrod.

"Nice light," commented Chex.

The overhead lights came on as Sister slapped it against her knee, "What is this?" she asked, looking at her prop, "some sort of, concept glowrod prop thingy?" she sat down, "OK guys, where's my real one?"

*Beep*

Sine turned and watched as a figure knelt down. Suddenly, a blinding green glow appeared in the kneeling girl's hands. Fumbling the glowrod, the girl shot out her hand and tried to grab it, but instead knocked it further away. Silently, it rolled across the floor until Gamma stopped it with his foot. He picked it up, "I wondered where I lost my lightsaber," he waved it about making sound effects with his mouth.

"Sorry guys,' Sister laughed.

Gamma stabbed Banshee in the gut and let loose a martial arts yell, "Hawaaaah!"

"Oofff," Banshee exhaled as he bent over before raising his left hand and electrocuting Gamma.

*Beep*

Sister interrupted quietly, "If someone could open the ceiling access hatch for me?"

"Sure," replied Natalie, raising a hand and using the Force to slide open the panel. Sadly, when the hatch was only half open, it was hit by something atop the elevator and fell into the lift, nearly decking Nam.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Mindless Droid looked down through the hatch. "Sorry about that," he apologized, "Kenobi and I were adjusting the lights up here and I accidentally bumped the cover."

*Beep*

The other armor clad figure stepped forward.

"Who are you?" asked Sine, pretending to be about to swoon.

"I'm Ironman," Chex replied before taking off and missing the hatch, hitting his head on the ceiling.

*Beep*

"You should have been there for our ride on the local public transport earlier today," added Banshee, grinning, "I electrocuted two hijackers at the same time. And Nat used the Force to smash a crate of Jell-O cubes onto the leader while Gamma did this cool move where he jumped off the wall and tackled the hijacker holding the bomb detonator. Which sounds risky but really wasn't because Sister had just, uh, smashed it with a… Um… Could we shorten this line?"

"Yeah," agreed Gamma, "It sort of bogs things down, though I'd hate to lose the part about my cool move."

Up above, Kenobi and MD were preparing to tilt the elevator, as was called for in the script. Kenobi tripped over a cable and fell through the hatch, landing squarely on Chex


	3. Chapter 3

Looking ahead, Sine almost wanted to go back to the elevator. As the group cautiously walked down the hallway, Tangent talked quietly with Kim and the siblings. Natalie shut down one of her emerald bladed lightsabers, but held the other in her left hand. The right side of the corridor was tainted red by the lightsaber Namialus held. With those two leading the way, and Gamma and Wolffe watching their backs, Sine kept telling herself she was safe, but the sight of a seemingly endless grey passage, lit by randomly spaced lights flickering intermittently, did not give her courage.

When the group reached an intersection with another hallway, everyone turned to Namialus. Sine supposed they expected him to decide which direction they would take. Wanting to be helpful, she scrutinized the grayed walls. A sign caught her eye. It was barely visible, disguised as it was by the same grunge that coated the walls. Without thinking, she extended her hand, wiped aside the dirt, and read what she found beneath it.

"Landing Bay, uh," she wiped away more grime and pointed down the corridor, "this way. Cantina, that way."

As she cleared the next line of text, Namialus decisively declared, "Our best bet will be the Landing Bay!" and began walking in the direction indicated.

Sister fell into step beside Sine as the eleven accidental adventurers began walking again. Raising her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, Sine became aware of how filthy it was. Thoroughly disgusted, she violently wiped her fingers on her blouse, releasing a sound rather akin to the noise she made before throwing up.

"What is this stuff?" she clenched and opened her fist, feeling a sticky residue.

"Probably a mixture—" Sister began to answer in a conversational voice.

"No." Sine interrupted her, "It's better to not know till after I wash my hands."

Shrugging her shoulders, Sister smiled, "As you wish."

Minutes later they reached a large metal door helpfully labeled, "Landing Bay." Confidently, Namialus strode into it. Most of the group laughed as he bounced off and staggered back, Tangent hardest of all. Although Namialus glared daggers at the closed entrance, nothing happened.

Kim approached the door. Gently she placed her left palm on its surface, and Sine wondered if she would open it with a softly spoken word. In one swift smooth motion, Kim drew her lightsaber, thrust it into the barrier, and returned her weapon to its place on her belt. While Tangent stared at her in awe, Sine stepped back, startled by her sudden action. Brother must have seen the look on her face, for he spoke quietly to her as Kim slid aside the interlocking door panels with an almost regal gesture, "She may look sweet, Sine, but Kim can destroy battle droids as well as any of us."

As she followed everyone through the doorway, Sine processed what he had said. These were people who fought battle droids.

"Spread out," Namialus interrupted her thoughts, "we need to find something to fly us to the upper levels."

Tangent tugged on her arm, "Mom, can I go with Kim?" he asked eagerly.

Actually, Sine had no desire to go wandering among the speeders and small ships. On the other hand, Kim somehow radiated a sense of stability. However, Sine could see her walking away with Wolffe and Natalie; and while the trooper seemed pleasant enough, the padawan had a reckless aura. Standing with Tangent in the doorway was not an option, but Kim and company had now walked out of sight.

"Would you like to come with us?" asked Gamma, walking over to them.

"Yes," she replied immediately, refusing to become immobilized while studying the pros and cons of the offer.

Walking over to where Sister and Banshee waited, Sine indulged in a few moments of worrying over what to wear tomorrow when the Mathinian Ambassador visited. As the group wandered from one derelict to the next, she paid less and less attention to her surroundings. Nothing they had looked at so far was large enough to transport all eleven of them. As the group neared the speeder entrance, Sine felt a welcome breeze blow in. Gamma and Banshee stopped to debate some minor point while Sister showed Tangent how to use a tool she pulled from her vest pocket. Sighing, Sine leaned against a nearby closed-cockpit two-seater speeder.

With a grating sound, the window by her elbow retracted, revealing two irate twi-leks. The green female held a blue cube, and the male held a sack from which he had been extracting a heaping handful of credits. In a motion quicker than Sine would have thought possible, the woman drew her blaster.

"Give me one good reason not to shoot you," threatened the green girl, while the male leaned back, keeping out of her line of fire.

"This," Gamma replied from somewhere behind Sine, firing a shot as he spoke. His plasma bolt imbedded itself in the speeder's dashboard three centimeters from the twi-lek woman's hand. Although the female remained calm, the blue man beside her jerked involuntarily, smashing one of the buttons on his door with his elbow, causing the woman's window to roll down.

Sister peered through the far window. "I'll take that," she reached into the vehicle with both hands and simultaneously grabbed the blaster and cube. Sine later wondered what Sister had been doing over there before the whole incident, but while it was happening she took it only as a cue to duck. Crouched down, she heard the woman yell.

"Let's get out of here!"

"But Daesha—" the twi-lek man protested.

Sine never heard the rest as the speeder's engines roared to life and the red craft flew out of the landing bay at top speed. She saw Gamma reposition his feet as he followed the vehicle with his blaster. Slowly, Sine stood. Banshee and Tangent walked out from behind a nearby pile of parts.

"What happened?" asked Tangent, "I wanted to watch, but Banshee shoved me behind that junk heap," he pulled a comical pouting face.

"Your mother interrupted a Black Market deal. The criminals got away, but not with this," Sister held up the cube.

"What is it?" questioned Tangent as she handed it to him.

"Don't quote me on this, but I think it's a jedi holocron," the girl spoke as if imparting a state secret, and for all Sine knew, perhaps she was.

"What's—" Tangent's question was cut short as a fully armed and armored Mandalorian warrior dropped down between them.

Snatching the holocron out of Tangent's hands with a curt, "Thanks kid," she straitened up from her crouched landing position. Smoothly she continued to move, releasing a kick that deflected the muzzle of Gamma's blaster away from her. Reactivating her jetpack, the mando shot upwards.

Banshee sent lightning bolts after her, but they diffused into the air before reaching the armor-clad figure. Although Gamma quickly raised his weapon, it was jammed.

"Blast!" he shouted, banging it with his palm.

Fortunately, the others now realized something was happening. As the thief flew away, a grey streak sped through the air and collided with her, knocking both down to land on the roof of a rusty speeder. Chex groaned as he grabbed the holocron out of the mando's hand and rolled off the badly dented roof to land on his feet beside the vehicle. Everyone was heading towards him, but Brother arrived first.

"Tony couldn't have done it any better," Brother told Chex. He said it like a complement, and Sine wondered who "Tony" was.

Apparently the armored female had received more of the impact, so she was just sitting up when Namialus joined the group.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"None of your business, sithspawn," came the insolent reply.

"Wait, how did you know I was a sith?" Namialus asked as Sine turned away. Looking for Tangent, she half listened to the conversation behind her. "I haven't done anything sithy yet. I didn't even show you my red lightsabers!"

"Do you mean to tell me you really are a sith?"

"Or course. I am Darth Namialus, Dark Lord of the Sith!"

Sine spotted Tangent. He was right where the armor-clad woman had snatched the cube from him. Now however he sat on the floor with Sister beside him, an arm around his shoulder. Running up to them, Sine saw that he was crying and immediately felt guilty for leaving his side on this crazy trip home.

"I think the situation finally caught up with him," Sister was trying to explain, "suddenly he realized there was no assurance of home any time soon, and it was all a bit much to bear.

However, Sine hardly heard a word she said because as soon as he had seen her Tangent had called, "Mom!" and thrown out his arms to her. Gladly she sat beside him and held him close. Sister stood, drawing her silvery sidearm as she did so. Watching her walk towards the others, Tangent leaned his head against his Mother and listened as Sine spoke softly and sang snatches of his favorite songs.

Sine talked about what they would do when they finally arrived safely at home. Tangent calmed down. He asked what they would eat. Sine wasn't sure, she was more concerned with talking a shower. He asked if something like this had ever happened to her or Daddy before. Sine knew the answer to that question, "No." He asked who the lady with the armor was. Sine stood up, "Let's go see," she replied, surprised by her own enthusiasm.

As mother and son approached the group, Nam reached back over his shoulders, unhooked his lightsabers, turned them on, and began waving the red blades around with gusto. Apparently, he was still attempting to prove his title.

"I'm not buying it," said the mando.

"Gah," replied Namialus.

"A sith would actually seem, you know, scary."

"Alright, uh," shutting down the whirling red display, the young sith thought for a moment, "Listen to this. I know the Code of the Sith, "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."

"You left out the part about traveling with a bunch of weirdoes." Clearly the woman was deriving pleasure from irritating Namialus as much as possible.

"You asked for it," Nam scowled and squared his shoulders before dramatically reciting, "Nwûl tash. Dzwol shâsotkun. Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk. Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan. Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha. Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak. Wonoksh Qyâsik nun." As he spoke the last line, Namialus re-ignited his lightsabers, while overhead the lights flickered.

Sine observed the reactions of those around her. Sister glanced at the ceiling. Natalie fidgeted. Kim looked a bit nauseous. Brother lifted an eyebrow. Wolffe slightly raised his blaster. Gamma shifted his feet. Chex blinked uneasily. Banshee electrocuted a nearby speeder. However, the mando didn't move a muscle, and Nam was left staring into her impassive visor. "That proves I'm a sith, right?" he asked.

"In your dreams, bozo."

"Gah!" the sith lord turned off his crimson blades and re-clipped them to the leather straps that ran across his shoulders. Jerking his right hand in a crude imitation of a throwing motion, he used the Force to remove the woman's helmet, revealing the young, smirking face behind it. "I am a Sith, and you will believe me, and I want to know your name, and you will tell me what it is!"

Up till now, Sine had been wondering if she should step in and try to mediate. After all, as the wife of the Chief Aid to the Mathinian Senator, she firmly grasped diplomacy. At this point however it seemed that her intercession might lead to violence rather than a peaceful resolution.

"If you knew who I was, you wouldn't have worked so hard to prove that you're a sith." Never averting her gaze, the woman spoke with a determined tone, but her brown eyes were laughing.

Exasperated, Namialus let her helmet clatter to the floor as he reached out with his hand and began to choke her with the Force. Sine gasped, watching the mando gag. Almost in perfect sync, Brother and Sister stepped forward, and each placed a hand on the sith's shoulder. Sine flinched, expecting him to lash out at the siblings.

Sister spoke in a low, friendly voice, "You're a nice sith, remember?"

Namialus glanced at her and sighed. Lowering his hand he remarked, "It's really hard to be an awesome sith with you two around."

"Can we stay focussed?" Gamma jumped into the conversation, "The lady still hasn't told us her name.

"Right," Nam shoved the siblings away from him.

A howling noise echoed in the Landing Bay.

"What was that?" asked Wolffe, turning to look around.

A second, higher pitched cry joined the first.

Sine reached out and took Tangent's hand; she suspected the origin of the noises. Seizing the moment, the mando punched Chex in the side of the head, grabbed the holocron from him, and hooking her helmet with her foot, activated her jetpack. As she did so, the number of howling voices continued to increase.

"The wild dogs of the underworld!" crowed the hovering figure, tossing up her helmet and catching it with her free hand. "I've only been broadcasting at the right hypersonic frequency to attract them the entire time we've been talking!"

"GAH!" Namialus brandished his weapons.

Just before donning her helmet and flying off, the mando called down to the group, mock saluting with the holocron as she did so. "Sithkillagal at your service, you—" at this point she slipped into a long line of mandoa. Sine suspected it was not a family friendly statement.

"That's the first logical thing she's said," commented Natalie casually.

A dark shaggy shape ran out from behind the skeleton of a small craft and launched itself at Namialus, who instinctively sliced it into thirds.

Sine screamed. She felt sick. Her hand covered Tangent's eyes.

"Why? What did she say?" inquired the sith, continuing his conversation with the jedi padawan.

"Oh, nothing much. She just called you a fool."

"And you agreed with her?"

Looking around her, Sine saw at least three hundred dogs lurking in the shadows. "We need to get out of here!" she yelled over the ruckus the animals were making.

"Right!" Brother shouted, "We need to find something—anything—that can fly us out of this place!"

Even as the group quickly moved from one speeder to the next, periodically blasting especially ambitious canines along the way, Nat and Nam continued to escalate their discussion.

"Of course I agree with her Nam… YOU A FOOL!"

"No. YOU ARE A FOOL! And bad at grammar to boot!

"NAM, Y U NO LIKE MY GRAMMAR? BECAUSE U A FOO!

"FOOLISH FOOL! Screamed Namialus.

Up till now, Sine had not known it was possible for two people to carry on for such a long time, at such a loud volume, over such a completely pointless and repetitive topic. Even the Senate paled in comparison to this.

Finally Gamma found a craft large enough to hold all of them, it appeared to be an older model and had largely been gutted. Many of the metal plates that made up its frame had been salvaged, so that Sine could see right through it. Plus, its doors were missing. And its engine.

Gradually the group had formed a protective circle around her and Tangent. Sine would have felt safer if she couldn't see hundreds of pairs of blue-green luminescent eyes, and if she could not hear the many growls, howls, and barks, and if Namialus and Natalie had stopped screaming at one another.

"NAT, YOU FOOLISHLY FOOLISH FOOL! You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time! YET I CAN FOOL YOU ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. AND YOU CAN NEVER FOOL ME, because YOU ARE A FOOL!"

Brother and Sister holstered their blasters and entered the large craft. Sine and Tangent followed and watched without comprehension as the siblings worked deftly with handfuls of colored wires, bulky metal components, and a few tools. After a few minutes Brother called for Banshee. When he stepped through the doorway, Sister grabbed him by the shoulder and positioned him at the back of the craft. Quickly the siblings opened what appeared to be access hatches to the engine compartments, which were at about head height on either side of Banshee. Somehow they attacked chains they had found in the cockpit to the speeder's propulsion systems. "Now Banshee," Sister spoke quickly, "if you stand," she pushed him into position, so that he was standing on two metal strips that at one time had been covered by the craft's floor, but now were the only thing between him and the duracrete floor of the Landing Bay. "Like so. And face the back and hold out your arms like this…" she demonstrated, extending her arms out to the sides, "Then all we have to do is hook you up and we should be ready to go."

We're sorry about the floor," Brother added, but it just happens to be broken where you need to stand and there's no time to fix it."

"Don't worry about—Wait, hook me up?" Banshee sounded concerned.

"Yeah, to the propulsion systems," Brother answered, holding up the end of his chain, which Sine now saw ended in some sort of clamp, or cuff. "You can provide the power back here while we pilot up front, and Sine can run back and forth telling you when we want more or less power."

"What!" exclaimed Sine in here high pitched voice as Banshee echoed her with his lower one.

Seeming to decide both statements were rhetorical, the siblings each grabbed one of Banshee's wrists. Brother snapped his chain onto Banshee's left wrist. It was a bit of a stretch, but Sister managed to clamp her chain around his right wrist. However, as she did so Banshee showed his displeasure by sending a burst of blue electricity into her right hand.

"Ah!" she yelled, shaking her hand, blowing on it, and then watching with a dark fascination as her pinky finger twitched of its own accord.

"Just send the electricity into the chains, and they'll distribute it into the proper systems." Brother turned from Banshee and walked out the back, where there had once been a door. While Brother called to everyone to come in, Sister started towards the front.

"Banshee, give me steady, low level power," she called over her shoulder. "Let's get this puppy started," she said moments later as she sat in the copilot's seat. Expertly she ran through a preflight check, occasionally stopping to bang, poke, or kick the controls in order to boot up a system. Not the least bit confident in this jury-rigged hunk of junk, Sine placed Tangent in the seat behind Sister and strapped him in.

Brother walked into the cockpit, standing in front the pilot's controls because his seat was missing he said, "Everyone's aboard. Sine, tell Banshee to up the power until we're about two meters high."

Sighing, Sine walked back, watching Namialus, Natalie, Kim, Gamma, and Wolffe try to cover all of the openings into the speeder. After delivering her message, Sine tumbled to the floor as the craft lurched upwards. Scrambling to her feet, Sine staggered back towards the cockpit. She was just in time to see Nam attack Nat, who jumped through a hole in the ceiling. Namialus followed her, and the two of them began to duel. Unfortunately, this left only three people to keep out the dogs.

One extra large canine leaped aboard, but Gamma swung out his arm and slammed the barrel of his blaster into its face. Yelping, the dog kept on running past Sine and out the other side of the craft.

As the speeder pulled out of the Landing Bay, Sine once again entered the cockpit, just in time to see a huge dog land on the craft's nose. Luckily the windshield was the one piece of glass that was still attached to the craft.

Sine was sent back to instruct Banshee several more times. Each time she returned to the cockpit the dog crouched on the hood looked more furious and desperate to get inside. Each time she saw Banshee he appeared to be having trouble staying on his footrests, once he was simply hanging from the chains, swinging back as the speeder accelerated. Several minutes into the flight, everyone began to relax as the dogs were left behind and Brother skillfully handled all the strange updrafts, sudden downdrafts, and the occasional other vehicle.

The landing platform Brother was aiming for was in sight above them now. Sister worked hard to keep the speeder level as they ascended. They had almost reached it when for some reason they stopped rising. No matter what they tried the craft always returned to the same level of Coruscant. Finally, Sine trooped back, only to find Banshee talking amiably with a gorgeous young woman through her window. In the end, the young man only agreed to increase his electricity output when Sine had taken down the woman's contact information for him.

Again the speeder rose. As Sine reentered the cockpit for the umpteenth time, the craft was just coming level with the platform. Unfortunately, it was at just this moment that Natalie backflipped onto the hood, slicing the cowering dog in half. Half a second later Namialus joined her, and the clash of the two green and two red lightsabers filled the windshield. Struggling to see, the siblings managed to bring the speeder over the landing platform, but misjudged their descent, so that the craft crashed down instead of gently landing as they had intended.

Sine didn't care. She picked herself up off the floor, stepped over Brother, who was sprawled on his back, and unbuckled Tangent. Together mother and son stepped out onto the platform. Nam and Nat jumped down beside them, putting up their weapons and breathing hard. Sine was surprised to see that both were grinning; she would never understand these people.

In a matter in minutes everyone had assembled beside the wrecked speeder. Sine peered into the neat and tidy room that led to the platform. It was a graceful room with a high ceiling and tasteful décor. All eleven of them trooped into the room and began to quietly walk through the quite large apartment. "You live in a lovely house," Sine complemented Kim.

"This isn't our house," Wolffe informed her.

"That's why we're sneaking," added Natalie.

"This is Mrs. Johnson's house, we live directly above here," finished Gamma.

A loud voice came from a hallway off to the side, "Oh, you young whippersnappers have come to rob me have you? Well, we'll just see what the—" everyone broke into a run.

Dashing out of the apartment, and up a flight of stairs, the group finally arrived at the door to the penthouse flat where all of them lived. While Namialus searched for his keys, Kim invited Sine and Tangent to come in for a few minutes of rest before going home. Gladly, Sine accepted the invitation. She wanted to sit down. And perhaps the group could tell her about how they came to be; she was very curious about them.

At last Nam got the door open, and gestured in gentlemanly fashion for her to enter first. Sine did so.

That was when someone inside threw a fish that hit her in the chest…

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading! :) You can read about how this group came together in a story being written by ShogunNatarii and Namialus**

**A Second Author's Note: If you spot any typos, or have any questions, please feel free to point them out and ask questions in the commenting/reviews. **


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